We are not enemies, but friends.
We must not be enemies
At his first inaugural, Lincoln spoke these lines
in front of the United States Capitol (right).
Lincoln's "march of triumph," as one reporter
called the inaugural journey, ended in a secretive
dash from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to Wash
ington-an expedient prompted by rumors of a
plot to assassinate him in Baltimore. On Feb
ruary 23, 1861-nine days before inauguration
Lincoln checked into Willard's, a hotel still wel
coming guests on Pennsylvania Avenue.
No city can ever be called complete, but the
Washington that Lincoln saw seemed hardly to
have gotten started.
"It was then.. .unattrac
tive, straggling, sodden," wrote a contemporary.
Yet some of the landmarks remain as national
treasures, enriched by the passage of a century.
Lincoln called on President Buchanan at the
White House; he worshiped at St. John's Church
on Lafayette Square. On a drive, he viewed the
Smithsonian Institution's red sandstone castle
and glimpsed the marble stub of the incomplete
Washington Monument. Visiting Congress, he
found the Capitol under construction, its dome
surrounded by scaffolds and cranes.
On March 4 Lincoln returned to Capitol Hill,
riding with President Buchanan up Pennsylvania
Avenue, Street of Presidents. Standing before a
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FRANK LESLIE'S ILLUSTRATEDNEWSPAPER, MARCH16, 1861
(ABOVE); AND LIBRARYOF CONGRESS (BELOW)